It’s now been 10 years since the arrival of bitcoin (BTC) on the market but despite the past decade, to date, the retail sector is still struggling to adopt it as the main method of payment.
In fact, traditional traders have often avoided cryptocurrency because of the high volatility and slow processing times of the Bitcoin network.
Today, however, a new initiative from the Winklevoss twins was announced.
Some big names in the retail market
Some of the big names in American retail including Crate and Barrel, Nordstrom and Whole Foods (owned by Amazon) are ready to integrate bitcoin payments and three other cryptocurrencies.
The initiative comes from the partnership between Flexa, a payment startup, and Gemini, the company owned by Winklevoss.
Flexa actually managed to convince retailers, who in addition to those mentioned above include Regal Cinemas, Gamestop and Baskin Robbins, to configure their scanners to recognize payments through their app called Spedn.
How the Spedn app works
The customer will only have to download the Spedn app and transfer funds into cryptocurrencies to pay.
The cashier of the shop, on the other hand, may not even be aware of the fact that the customer will pay in crypto.
Finally, the merchant, in real time, can decide to receive the payment in the form he prefers (crypto or dollars).
Accepted cryptocurrencies
Spedn allows users to use four different cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), ethereum (ETH) and of course the stablecoin of the Winklevoss twins, the Gemini Dollar (GUSD).
The Spedn and GUSD pair is the main solution to the traders’ problems. In fact, being a cryptocurrency anchored to the value of the American dollar and supported by the banking giant State Street, avoids the problem of the volatility of the market.
Sarah Olsen, head of business development at Gemini, told CoinDesk:
“Whether that’s a foreigner who’s coming to the U.S. and more easily able to participate in our economy or vice versa, The Flexa network is going to be open source so if you’re a merchant anywhere you can integrate to use their network, even without necessarily interacting with the Flexa team directly. ”
